Venice Commission experts to meet Bosnian political leaders

N1

Leaders of Bosnian political parties will meet on Monday with the Venice Commission's delegation at the premises of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, to discuss the changes to the Election Law.

N1 learns that the meeting will be attended by leaders of the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the Alliance for Better Future (SBB BiH), and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The Venice Commission experts arrived in Bosnia the last month, where they held a series of meetings in an attempt to assist Bosnia's politicians and authorities in finding an agreement on the burning issue of the changes Bosnia has to make to the Election Law, in order to align it with the country's Constitution.

During the three-day visit, the foreign experts heard the opposing stances of Bosnian politicians on the issue and announced they would return to Bosnia in June to discuss the matter with the parties’ leaders.

Two years ago the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ruled that some provisions of the Election Law were inconsistent with the state Constitution and subsequently deleted two sections of the Law which treat the matter of representation in the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), the semi-autonomous entity shared by Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats.

Since then, Bosnia's political leaders have failed to act in the legally allowed time frame to change the Law. Talks on the issue have been in deadlock for some time, despite mediation by international representatives present in the country.